Bradley Manning says he wants to live as a woman

Attorneys will seek presidential pardon for Manning

Aug. 22, 2013 - 06:00AM
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Bradley Manning is the first transgender military inmate to ask for hormone treatments, officials say, a request that could lead to a legal showdown over how — and if — the soldier convicted in the WikiLeaks case will be allowed to live as a female behind bars. (Army via AP)

Should Bradley Manning's sex change be taxpayer fu...: Convicted Army Private Bradley Manning wants to live the rest of his life as a woman named Chelsea and hopes to begin hormone treatment soon.

Leavenworth: No female inmates at prisons

A military spokesman says if Bradley Manning is allowed to live in prison as a woman it won't be at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. George Marcec says Thursday that neither the maximum security U.S. Disciplinary Barracks where Manning will serve his time nor the adjacent Joint Regional Confinement Facility were equipped to house female inmates. Manning was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for sending classified material to WikiLeaks. Manning announced Thursday that he wants to go by the name Chelsea E. Manning. He says he will ask the Army to allow him to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. Marcec says Manning will have access to mental health professionals but the prison system doesn't provide hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery for inmates. — AP

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FORT MEADE, MD. — Three years after Bradley Manning rocked the Pentagon by leaking a mountain of secrets, the soldier created a whole new set of potential complications for the military Thursday when he announced he intends to live as a woman named Chelsea and undergo hormone treatment.

Manning's gender-identity struggle — his sense that he is a woman trapped in a man's body — was brought up in his defense at his court-martial, and a photo of him in a blond wig and lipstick was submitted as evidence.

But the latest twist, announced the morning after Manning was sentenced to 35 years behind bars, surprised many and confronted the Pentagon with questions about where and how he is to be imprisoned.

The former Army intelligence analyst disclosed the decision in a statement provided to NBC's "Today" show.

"As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible," the statement read.

The statement asked people to use the feminine pronoun when referring to Manning. It was signed "Chelsea E. Manning."

The soldier's attorney, David Coombs, told "Today" he hopes officials at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., accommodate Manning's request for hormone treatment, which typically involves high doses of estrogen to promote breast development and other female characteristics.

However, the Army said it doesn't provide such treatment or sex-reassignment surgery.

A lawsuit could be in the offing. Coombs said he will do "everything in my power" to make sure Manning gets his way. And the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign and other advocates for gays, bisexuals and transgender people said he deserves the treatment.

"In the United States, it is illegal to deny health care to prisoners. That is fairly settled law," said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Now the Army can claim this isn't health care, but they have the weight of the medical profession and science against them."

A Federal Bureau of Prisons policy implemented last year requires federal prisons to develop treatment plans, including hormone therapy if necessary, for inmates diagnosed with gender-identity disorder. But the bureau oversees only civilian prisons.

Manning's case appeared to be the first time the therapy had come up for a military prisoner.

After his sentencing Manning was returned on Thursday to Fort Leavenworth, where he has been held for more than two years.

Fort Leavenworth is an all-male prison. But the staff has some leeway to separate soldiers from the other inmates based on the risk to themselves and others, prison spokesman George Marcec said.

Manning would not be allowed to wear a wig or bra, and his hair would have to be kept to military standard, Marcec said.

Advocates said gays and transgender people are more susceptible to sexual assault and other violence in prison.

"She most likely will need to be placed with a female prison population because she identifies as female," said Jeffrey Parsons, a psychology professor at Hunter College in New York.

Manning, 25, was convicted of Espionage Act violations and crimes for turning more than 700,000 classified military and diplomatic documents over to the secrets-spilling website WikiLeaks. Coombs said the soldier could be paroled from prison in as little as seven years.

Greg Rinckey, a former Army prosecutor and now a lawyer in Albany, N.Y., said Manning's statement could be a ploy to get him transferred to a civilian prison.

"He might be angling to go there because he believes life at a federal prison could be easier than life at the disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth," Rinckey said.

He also said the military is adamant about not providing hormone treatment: "You enlisted as a male, you're a male, you're going to be incarcerated as a male."

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Associated Press writers Lauran Neergaard and Sagar Meghani in Washington and John Milburn in Topeka, Kan., contributed to this report.